Follow the latest coverage, related explainers and connected technology stories.
Oura is preparing for an initial public offering after strong revenue and sales growth, but competitors such as Ultrahuman, Circular, RingConn, Samsung, and Dreame are betting on NFC payments, haptic alerts, on-device processing, and phone-control features. The race signals that smart rings are shifting from quiet health-monitoring tools to more interactive and complex devices.
Indian company Ultrahuman has raised $70 million with participation from Qualcomm Ventures and is working on a ring that uses Qualcomm chips to run software and algorithms locally instead of relying entirely on a phone or the cloud. The company plans to add some game-control and AI app interaction functions to the Ring Air and Ring Pro through a software update before the end of September.